Phoenix is the anchor of the
Phoenix metropolitan area, also known as the
Valley of the Sun, which in turn is part of the
Salt River Valley. The metropolitan area is the 11th largest by population in the United States, with approximately 4.73 million people as of 2017[update].[7] In addition, Phoenix is the seat of
Maricopa County and the largest city in the state at 517.9 square miles (1,341 km2), more than twice the size of
Tucson and one of the largest cities in the United States.[8]

Phoenix was settled in 1867 as an agricultural community near the confluence of the
Salt and
Gila Rivers and was incorporated as a city in 1881. It became the capital of
Arizona Territory in 1889.[9] It is located in the northeastern reaches of the
Sonoran Desert and has a
hot desert climate.[10][11] Despite this, its canal system led to a thriving farming community with many of the original crops remaining important parts of the Phoenix economy for decades, such as alfalfa, cotton, citrus, and hay.[12][13] Cotton, cattle, citrus, climate, and copper were known locally as the "Five C's" of Phoenix's economy. These remained the driving forces of the city until after World War II, when high-tech companies began to move into the valley and air conditioning made Phoenix's hot summers more bearable.[14]

The city averaged a four percent annual population growth rate over a 40-year period from the mid-1960s to the mid-2000s.[15] This growth rate slowed during the
Great Recession of 2007–09, and has rebounded slowly.[16] Phoenix is the cultural center of the state of Arizona.[17]

History

Early history

The
Hohokam people occupied the Phoenix area for 2,000 years.[18][19] They created roughly 135 miles (217 kilometers) of irrigation canals, making the desert land arable, and paths of these canals were used for the
Arizona Canal,
Central Arizona Project Canal, and the
Hayden-Rhodes Aqueduct. They also carried out extensive trade with the nearby
Anasazi,
Mogollon, and
Sinagua, as well as with the more distant
Mesoamerican civilizations.[20] It is believed that periods of drought and severe floods between 1300 and 1450 led to the Hohokam civilization's abandonment of the area.[21]

The Akimel O'odham were the major group in the area and lived in small villages, with well-defined irrigation systems that spread over the entire Gila River Valley, from Florence in the east to the Estrellas in the west. Their crops included corn, beans, and squash for food, while cotton and tobacco were also cultivated. They banded together with the Maricopa for protection against incursions by the Yuma and Apache tribes.[26] The Maricopa are part of the larger Yuma people; however, they migrated east from the lower Colorado and Gila Rivers in the early 1800s, when they began to be enemies with other Yuma tribes, settling among the existing communities of the Akimel O'odham.[27][28][22]

The Tohono O'odham lived in the region, as well, but their main concentration was to the south and stretched all the way to the Mexican border.[29] The O'odham lived in small settlements as seasonal farmers who took advantage of the rains, rather than the large-scale irrigation of the Akimel. They grew crops such as sweet corn, tapery beans, squash, lentils, sugar cane, and melons, as well as taking advantage of native plants such as saguaro fruits, cholla buds, mesquite tree beans, and mesquite candy (sap from the mesquite tree). They also hunted local game such as deer, rabbit, and javelina for meat.[30][31]

The
Mexican–American War ended in 1848, Mexico ceded its northern zone to the United States, and residents of that region became U.S. citizens. The Phoenix area became part of the
New Mexico Territory.[32] In 1863, the mining town of
Wickenburg was the first to be established in Maricopa County, to the northwest of Phoenix. Maricopa County had not yet been incorporated; the land was within
Yavapai County, which included the major town of Prescott to the north of Wickenburg.

The Army created
Fort McDowell on the
Verde River in 1865 to forestall Indian uprisings.[33] The fort established a camp on the south side of the Salt River by 1866, which was the first settlement in the valley after the decline of the Hohokam. Other nearby settlements later merged to become the city of
Tempe.[34]

Founding and incorporation

The Phillip Darrell Duppa adobe house was built in 1870 and is the oldest house in Phoenix. The homestead is named after "Lord" Darrell Duppa, an Englishman who is credited with naming Phoenix and Tempe as well as founding the town of New River.

The history of the city of Phoenix begins with
Jack Swilling, a Confederate veteran of the Civil War. He was traveling through the
Salt River Valley in 1867 and saw a potential for farming. He formed a small community that same year about four miles (six km) east of the city.
Lord Darrell Duppa was one of the original settlers in Swilling's party, and he suggested the name "Phoenix", as it described a city born from the ruins of a former civilization.[18]

The Board of Supervisors in Yavapai County officially recognized the new town on May 4, 1868, and the first post office was established the following month with Swilling as the postmaster.[18] On February 12, 1871, the territorial legislature created Maricopa County by dividing Yavapai County; it was the sixth one formed in the Arizona Territory. The first election for county office was held in 1871 when Tom Barnum was elected the first sheriff. He ran unopposed when the other two candidates (John A. Chenowth and Jim Favorite) fought a duel; Chenowth killed Favorite and was forced to withdraw from the race.[18]

The town grew during the 1870s, and President
Ulysses S. Grant issued a land patent for the site of Phoenix on April 10, 1874. By 1875, the town had a telegraph office, 16 saloons, and four dance halls, but the townsite-commissioner form of government needed an overhaul. An election was held in 1875, and three village trustees and other officials were elected.[18] By 1880, the town's population stood at 2,453.[35]

Aerial lithograph of Phoenix from 1885

By 1881, Phoenix's continued growth made the board of trustees obsolete. The Territorial Legislature passed the Phoenix Charter Bill, incorporating Phoenix and providing a mayor-council government; Governor
John C. Fremont signed the bill on February 25, 1881, officially incorporating Phoenix as a city with a population of around 2,500.[18]

In the 1880s, the arrival of the railroad in the valley was the first of several events that altered the economy of Phoenix, and it became a trade center with its products reaching eastern and western markets. In response, the
Phoenix Chamber of Commerce was organized on November 4, 1888.[36] The city offices were moved into the new City Hall at Washington and Central in 1888.[18] The territorial capital was moved from Prescott to Phoenix in 1889, and the territorial offices were also located in City Hall.[37] With the arrival of the
Santa Fe, Prescott and Phoenix Railroad in 1895, Phoenix was connected to Prescott, Flagstaff, and other communities in the northern part of the territory. The increased access to commerce expedited the city's economic rise. The
Phoenix Union High School was established in 1895 with an enrollment of 90.[18]

1900 to World War II

Central Avenue, Phoenix, 1908

On February 25, 1901, Governor
Oakes Murphy dedicated the permanent
Capitol building,[18] and the
Carnegie Free Library opened seven years later, on February 18, 1908, dedicated by Benjamin Fowler.[38] The
National Reclamation Act was signed by President
Theodore Roosevelt in 1902, which allowed for dams to be built on waterways in the west for reclamation purposes.[39] The first dam constructed under the act,
Salt River Dam#1, began in 1903. It supplied both water and electricity, becoming the first multi-purpose dam, and Roosevelt himself attended the official dedication on May 18, 1911. At the time, it was the largest masonry dam in the world, forming
a lake in the mountain east of Phoenix.[40] The dam would be renamed after Teddy Roosevelt in 1917,[41] and the lake would follow suit in 1959.[42]

On February 14, 1912, Phoenix became a state capital, as Arizona was admitted to the Union as the 48th state under President
William Howard Taft.[43] This occurred just six months after Taft had vetoed a joint congressional resolution granting statehood to Arizona, due to his disapproval of the state constitution's position regarding the recall of judges.[44] In 1913, Phoenix adopted a new form of government, changing from a mayor-council system to
council-manager, making it one of the first cities in the United States with this form of city government. After statehood, Phoenix's growth started to accelerate, and eight years later, its population had reached 29,053. In 1920, Phoenix would see its first skyscraper, the Heard Building.[18] In 1929,
Sky Harbor was officially opened, at the time owned by
Scenic Airways. It would later be purchased in 1935 by the city, which operates it to this day.[45]

Phoenix skyline – ca. 1940

On March 4, 1930, former U.S. President
Calvin Coolidge dedicated a dam on the Gila River named in his honor. However, the state had just been through a long drought, and the reservoir which was supposed to be behind the dam was virtually dry. The humorist
Will Rogers, who was also on hand as a guest speaker joked, "If that was my lake, I'd mow it."[46] Phoenix's population had more than doubled during the 1920s, and now stood at 48,118.[18] It was also during the 1930s that Phoenix and its surrounding area began to be called "The Valley of the Sun", which was an advertising slogan invented to boost tourism.[47]

Post-World War II explosive growth

A town that had just over 65,000 residents in 1940 became America's sixth largest city by 2010, with a population of nearly 1.5 million, and millions more in nearby suburbs. When the war ended, many of the men who had undergone their training in Arizona returned bringing their new families. Learning of this large untapped labor pool enticed many large industries to move their operations to the area.[18] In 1948 high-tech industry, which would become a staple of the state's economy, arrived in Phoenix when
Motorola chose Phoenix for the site of its new research and development center for military electronics. Seeing the same advantages as Motorola, other high-tech companies such as
Intel and
McDonnell Douglas would also move into the valley and open manufacturing operations.[50][51]

By 1950, over 105,000 people resided in the city and thousands more in surrounding communities.[18] The 1950s growth was spurred on by advances in air conditioning, which allowed both homes and businesses to offset the extreme heat experienced in Phoenix and the surrounding areas during its long summers. There was more new construction in Phoenix in 1959 alone than during the period of more than thirty years from 1914 to 1946.[52]

Like many emerging American cities at the time, Phoenix's spectacular growth did not occur evenly. It largely took place on the city's north side, a region that was nearly all Caucasian. In 1962, one local activist testified at a
US Commission on Civil Rights hearing that of 31,000 homes that had recently sprung up in this neighborhood, not a single one had been sold to an African-American.[53] Phoenix's African-American and Mexican-American communities remained largely sequestered on the south side of town. The color lines were so rigid that no one north of
Van Buren Street would rent to the African-American baseball star
Willie Mays, in town for spring training in the 1960s.[54] In 1964, a reporter from The New Republic wrote of segregation in these terms: "Apartheid is complete. The two cities look at each other across a golf course."[55]

In the 1970s the downtown area experienced a resurgence, with a level of construction activity not seen again until the urban real estate boom of the 2000s. By the end of the decade, Phoenix adopted the Phoenix Concept 2000 plan which split the city into urban villages, each with its own village core where greater height and density was permitted, further shaping the free-market development culture. Originally, there were nine villages,[68] but this has been expanded to 15 over the years (see
Cityscape below). This officially turned Phoenix into a city of many nodes, which would later be connected by freeways. The
Phoenix Symphony Hall opened in 1972;[69] other major structures which saw construction downtown during this decade were the
First National Bank Plaza, the
Valley Center (the tallest building in the state of Arizona)[70] and the
Arizona Bank building.

There was an influx of refugees due to low-cost housing in the
Sunnyslope area in the 1990s, resulting in 43 different languages being spoken in local schools by the year 2000.[74] The new 20-story
City Hall opened in 1992.[75]

Phoenix has maintained a growth streak in recent years, growing by 24.2% before 2007. This made it the second-fastest-growing metropolitan area in the United States, surpassed only by
Las Vegas.[76] In 2008, Squaw Peak, the second tallest mountain in the city, was renamed
Piestewa Peak after Army Specialist
Lori Ann Piestewa, an Arizonan and the first
Native American woman to die in combat while serving in the U.S. military, as well as being the first American female casualty of the
2003 Iraq War.[77] 2008 also saw Phoenix as one of the cities hardest hit by the
subprime mortgage crisis, and by early 2009 the median home price was $150,000, down from its $262,000 peak in 2007.[78] Crime rates in Phoenix have gone down in recent years, and once troubled, decaying neighborhoods such as
South Mountain,
Alhambra, and
Maryvale have recovered and stabilized. Recently, downtown Phoenix and the central core have experienced renewed interest and growth, resulting in numerous restaurants, stores, and businesses opening or relocating to central Phoenix.[79]

Geography

Phoenix is in the southwestern United States, in the south-central portion of Arizona; about halfway between
Tucson to the southeast and
Flagstaff to the north. By car, the city is approximately 150 miles (240 kilometers) north of the US-Mexico border at
Sonoyta and 180 mi (290 km) north of the border at
Nogales. The metropolitan area is known as the "Valley of the Sun" due to its location in the Salt River Valley.[47] It lies at a mean elevation of 1,086 feet (331 m), in the northern reaches of the
Sonoran Desert.[80]

Other than the mountains in and around the city, the topography of Phoenix is generally flat, allowing the city's main streets to run on a precise grid with wide, open-spaced roadways. Scattered, low mountain ranges surround the valley:
McDowell Mountains to the northeast, the
White Tank Mountains to the west, the
Superstition Mountains far to the east, and both
South Mountain and the
Sierra Estrella to the south/southwest.
Camelback Mountain, North Mountain,
Sunnyslope Mountain, and
Piestewa Peak are located within the heart of the valley. On the outskirts of Phoenix are large fields of irrigated cropland and Native American reservation lands.[81] The Salt River runs westward through the city of Phoenix, but the riverbed is often dry or contains little water due to large irrigation diversions. The community of
Ahwatukee is separated from the rest of the city by South Mountain.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 517.9 square miles (1,341 km2). 516.7 square miles (1,338 km2) of it is land, and 1.2 square miles (0.6 km2, or 0.2%) of it is water.

Maricopa County grew by 811% from 186,000 in 1940 to 1,509,000 in 1980, thanks in part to air conditioning, cheap housing and an influx of retirees. The once "modest urban sprawl" now "grew by 'epic' proportions— not only a myriad of residential tract developments on both farmland and desert." Retail outlets and office complexes spread out and did not concentrate in the small downtown area. There was low population density and a lack of widespread and significant high-rise development.[82] As a consequence Phoenix became a textbook case of
urban sprawl for geographers.[83][84][85][86][87][88] Even though it is the fifth most populated city, the large area gives it a low density rate of approximately 2,797 people per square mile.[89] In comparison,
Philadelphia, the sixth most populous city, has a density of over 11,000.[90]

As with most of Arizona, Phoenix does not observe
daylight saving time. In 1973, Governor
Jack Williams argued to the U.S. Congress that due to air conditioning units not being used as often in the morning on standard time, energy use would increase in the evening should the state observe daylight saving time. He went on to say that energy use would also rise early in the day "because there would be more lights on in the early morning." Additionally, he said that daylight saving time would cause children to go to school in the dark.[91]

Sunrise occurs at around 7:29am on December 21 and 5:19am on June 21. Sunset occurs at around 5:25pm on December 21 and 7:41pm on June 21 (all
UTC-7).

Cityscape

Neighborhoods

Downtown Phoenix skyline looking northeast toward Camelback Mountain

Map of the urban villages of Phoenix

Phoenix sunset from Papago Park – 2010

Since 1979, the city of Phoenix has been divided into
urban villages, many of which are based upon historically significant neighborhoods and communities that have since been annexed into Phoenix.[92] Each village has a planning committee that is appointed directly by the city council. According to the village planning handbook issued by the city, the purpose of the village planning committees is to "work with the city's planning commission to ensure a balance of housing and employment in each village, concentrate development at identified village cores, and to promote the unique character and identity of the villages."[93] There are 15 urban villages:
Ahwatukee Foothills,
Alhambra,
Camelback East,
Central City,
Deer Valley, Desert View,
Encanto,
Estrella,
Laveen,
Maryvale, North Gateway, North Mountain, Paradise Valley,
Rio Vista, and South Mountain.

The urban village of Paradise Valley is distinct from the nearby
Town of Paradise Valley. Although the urban village is part of Phoenix, the town is independent.

Climate

Phoenix has a
hot desert climate (
Köppen:BWh),[10][11] typical of the
Sonoran Desert and being therefore the greater city of
America in this climatic zone.[95] Phoenix has long, extremely hot summers and short, mild to warm winters. The city is located within the sunniest region in the world. Measuring 3,872 hours of bright sunshine annually, Phoenix receives the most sunshine of any major city on Earth.[96] Average high temperatures in summer are the hottest of any major city in the United States.[97] On average, there are 107 days annually with a high of at least 100 °F (38 °C)[98] including most days from late May through early October. Highs top 110 °F (43 °C) an average of 18 days during the year.[99] On June 26, 1990, the temperature reached an all-time recorded high of 122 °F (50 °C).[100] Despite the city's claim to the most extreme heat in summer, however, it does not have the highest average annual temperature in the contiguous United States. In that respect, it comes second to
Miami; Phoenix has an average daily temperature of 75 °F (24 °C), compared to Miami's 77 °F (25 °C).[97]

Unlike most desert locations which undergo drastic fluctuations between day and nighttime temperatures, Phoenix's
diurnal temperature variation is limited by the
urban heat island effect. As the city has expanded, average summer low temperatures have been steadily rising. The daily heat of the sun is stored in pavement, sidewalks, and buildings, and it is radiated back out at night.[101] The daily normal low remains at or above 80 °F (27 °C) for an average of 67 days per summer. On July 15, 2003, Phoenix set its record for the warmest daily low temperature, at 96 °F (36 °C).[98]

The city averages approximately 300 days of sunshine, or over 85% of daylight hours per year,[102][103] and receives scant rainfall—the average annual total at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport being 8.03 in (204 mm). Precipitation is sparse during most of the year, but the
North American Monsoon brings an influx of moisture during the summer. Historically, the monsoon officially started when the average
dew point was 55 °F (13 °C) for three days in a row—typically occurring in early July. In order to increase monsoon awareness and promote safety, however, the National Weather Service decreed that starting in 2008, June 15 would be the official "first day" of the monsoon, and it would end on September 30.[104] When active, the monsoon raises humidity levels and can cause heavy localized precipitation, flash floods, hail, destructive winds, and
dust storms[105]—which can rise to the level of a
haboob in some years.[106]

July is the wettest month of the year (1.05 in (27 mm)), while June is the driest (0.02 in (0.51 mm)). On September 8, 2014, the city of Phoenix recorded its single highest rainfall total by the National Weather Service with 3.30 in (84 mm) breaking a 75-year-old previous record of 2.91 in (74 mm), set on September 4, 1939.[107] The September 2014 storm was created from the remnants of Hurricane Norbert which had moved up from the
Gulf of California and flooded the city's major interstates and low-lying roadways, stranding hundreds of motorists.[108] On average, dew points range from 31 °F (−1 °C) in December to 58 °F (14 °C) in August.[109] Occasionally, dew points can rise to 76 °F (24 °C) or higher during periods of strong monsoon activity - creating especially muggy conditions in the area.[110]

A graupel fall in February 2013

Generally speaking, the annual minimum temperature in Phoenix is in the mid-to-low 30s. It rarely drops to 32 °F (0 °C) or below, having done so in only seven of the years between 1995—2015 on a total of sixteen days.[98] However, peripheral portions of the greater
Phoenix metropolitan area frequently see frost in the winter. The earliest freeze on record occurred on November 4, 1956, and the latest occurred on March 31, 1987. [a] The all-time lowest recorded temperature in Phoenix was 16 °F (−9 °C) on January 7, 1913, while the coldest daily high temperature ever recorded was 36 °F (2 °C) on December 10, 1898. The longest continuous stretch without a day of frost in Phoenix was over 5 years, from November 23, 1979, to January 31, 1985.[111][112] Snow is a very rare occurrence for the city of Phoenix. Snowfall was first officially recorded in 1898, and since then, accumulations of 0.1 inches (0.25 cm) or greater have occurred only eight times. The heaviest snowstorm on record dates to January 21–22, 1937, when 1 to 4 inches (2.5 to 10.2 cm) fell in parts of the city and did not melt entirely for three days. On December 6, 1998, snow fell across the northwest portions of the city, and Sky Harbor reported a dusting of snow.[113] On December 30, 2010, and February 20, 2013,
graupel fell across much of the city; although it was widely believed to be snow.[114] Most recently, on February 21-22, 2019, the far northern and northeastern sections of the metro area were blanketed with several inches of snow while Sky Harbor received record rainfall.[115]

The greater Phoenix region is home to the only thriving feral population of
rosy-faced lovebirds in the U.S. This bird is a popular
birdcage pet, native to southwestern Africa. Feral birds were first observed living outdoors in 1987, probably escaped or released pets, and by 2010 the Greater Phoenix population had grown to about 950 birds. These
lovebirds prefer older neighborhoods where they nest under untrimmed, dead
palm tree fronds.[123][124]

Phoenix is the sixth most populous city in the United States according to the
2010 United States Census, with a population of 1,445,632, making it the most populous state capital in the United States.[131] Phoenix's ranking as the sixth most populous city was a drop from the number five position it had held since the U. S. Census Bureau released population estimates on June 28, 2007. Those statistics used data from 2006, which showed Phoenix's population at 1,512,986, which put it just ahead of Philadelphia.[131] In 2016, Phoenix regained the position of 5th most populous city, with the census bureau estimating its population at 1,615,017, edging out Philadelphia with a population of 1,567,872.[132]

After leading the U.S. in population growth for over a decade, the sub-prime mortgage crisis, followed by the recession, led to a slowing in the growth of Phoenix. There were approximately 77,000 people added to the population of the Phoenix metropolitan area in 2009, which was down significantly from its peak in 2006 of 162,000.[133][134] Despite this slowing, Phoenix's population grew by 9.4% since the 2000 census (a total of 124,000 people), while the entire Phoenix metropolitan area grew by 28.9% during the same period. This compares with an overall growth rate nationally during the same time frame of 9.7%.[135][136] Not since 1940–50, when the city had a population of 107,000, had the city gained less than 124,000 in a decade. Phoenix's recent growth rate of 9.4% from the 2010 census is the first time it has recorded a growth rate under 24% in a census decade.[137] However, in 2016, Phoenix once again became the fastest growing city in the United States, adding approximately 88 people per day during the preceding year.[132]

The Phoenix
Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) (officially known as the Phoenix-Mesa-Glendale MSA), is one of 10 MSAs in Arizona, and was the 14th largest in the United States, with a total population of 4,192,887 as of the 2010 Census. Consisting of parts of both Pinal and Maricopa counties, the MSA accounts for 65.5% of the total population of the state of Arizona.[135][136] Phoenix only contributed 13% to the total growth rate of the MSA, down significantly from its 33% share during the prior decade.[137] Phoenix is also part of the
Arizona Sun Corridormegaregion (MR), which is the 10th most populous of the 11 MRs, and the 8th largest by area. It had the 2nd largest growth by percentage of the MRs (behind only the Gulf Coast MR) between 2000 and 2010.[138]

Downtown Phoenix from an airplane, 2011

The population is almost equally split between men and women, with men making up 50.2% of city's citizens. The population density is 2,797.8 people per square mile, and the median age of the city is 32.2 years, with only 10.9 of the population being over 62. 98.5% of Phoenix's population lives in households with an average household size of 2.77 people. There were 514,806 total households, with 64.2% of those households consisting of families: 42.3% married couples, 7% with an unmarried male as head of household, and 14.9% with an unmarried female as head of household. 33.6% of those households have children below the age of 18. Of the 35.8% of non-family households, 27.1% of them have a householder living alone, almost evenly split between men and women, with women having 13.7% and men occupying 13.5%. Phoenix has 590,149 housing units, with an occupancy rate of 87.2%. The largest segment of vacancies is in the rental market, where the vacancy rate is 14.9%, and 51% of all vacancies are in rentals. Vacant houses for sale only make up 17.7% of the vacancies, with the rest being split among vacation properties and other various reasons.[139]

The median income for a household in the city was $47,866, and the median income for a family was $54,804. Males had a median income of $32,820 versus $27,466 for females. The per capita income for the city was $24,110. 21.8% of the population and 17.1% of families were below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 31.4% of those under the age of 18 and 10.5% of those 65 and older were living below the poverty line.[140]

According to the 2010 Census, the racial breakdown of Phoenix was as follows:[141]

Map of racial distribution in Phoenix, 2010 U.S. Census. Each dot is 25 people: White, Black, AsianHispanic, or Other (yellow)

Phoenix's population has historically been predominantly white. From 1890 to 1970, over 90% of the citizens were white. In recent years, this percentage has dropped, reaching 65% In 2010. However, a significant portion of this decrease can be attributed to new guidelines put out by the
U.S. Census Bureau in 1980, when a question regarding Hispanic origin was added to the census questionnaire. This has led to an increasing tendency for some groups to no longer self-identify as white, and instead categorize themselves as "other races".[142] 20.6% of the population of the city was foreign born in 2010. Of the 1,342,803 residents over 5 years of age, 63.5% spoke only English, 30.6% spoke Spanish at home, 2.5% spoke another Indo-European language, 2.1% spoke Asian or Islander languages, with the remaining 1.4% speaking other languages. About 15.7% of non-English speakers reported speaking English less than "very well". The largest national ancestries reported were Mexican (35.9%), German (15.3%), Irish (10.3%), English (9.4%), Black (6.5%), Italian (4.5%), French (2.7%), Polish (2.5%), American Indian (2.2%), and Scottish (2.0%).[144]Hispanics or Latinos of any race make up 40.8% of the population. Of these the largest groups are at 35.9% Mexican, 0.6% Puerto Rican, 0.5% Guatemalan, 0.3% Salvadoran, 0.3% Cuban.

Trinity Episcopal Cathedral

According to a 2014 study by the
Pew Research Center, 66% of the population of the city identified themselves as
Christians,[145][146] while 26% claimed
no religious affiliation. The same study says that other religions (including
Judaism,
Buddhism,
Islam, and
Hinduism) collectively make up about 7% of the population. In 2010, according to the Association of Religion Data Archives, which conducts religious census each ten years, 39% of those polled in Maricopa county considered themselves a member of a religious group. Of those who expressed a religious affiliation, the area's religious composition was reported as 35%
Catholic, 22% to
Evangelical Protestant denominations, 16%
Latter-Day Saints (LDS), 14% to
nondenominational congregations, 7% to
Mainline Protestant denominations, and 2%
Hindu. The remaining 4% belong to other religions, such as Buddhism, and Judaism. While there was an overall increase in the number of religious adherents over the decade of 103,000, that did not keep pace with the overall population increase in the country during the same period, which increased by almost three-quarters of million individuals, resulting in the percentage drop. The largest aggregate increases were in the LDS (a 58% increase) and Evangelical Protestant churches (14% increase), while all other categories saw their numbers drop slightly, or remain static. Overall, the Catholic Church had an 8% drop, while Mainline Protestant groups saw a 28% decline.[147]

Economy

The early economy of Phoenix was focused primarily on agriculture and natural resources, dependent on the "5Cs" of copper, cattle, climate, cotton, and citrus.[14] With the establishment of the Southern Pacific rail line in 1926, the opening of the Union Station in 1923, and the creation of Sky Harbor airport by the end of the decade, the city became more easily accessible.[148] The Great Depression affected Phoenix, but Phoenix had a diverse economy and by 1934 the recovery was underway.[149][150] At the conclusion of
World War II, the valley's economy surged, as many men who had undergone their military training at the various bases in and around Phoenix returned with their families. The construction industry, spurred on by the city's growth, further expanded with the development of
Sun City. It became the template for suburban development in post-WWII America,[151] and Sun City became the template for retirement communities when it opened in 1960.[152][153] The city averaged a 4 percent annual growth rate over a 40-year period from the mid-1960s to the mid-2000s.[15]

As the national financial crisis of 2007–10 began, construction in Phoenix collapsed and housing prices plunged.[154] Arizona jobs declined by 11.8% from peak to trough; in 2007 Phoenix had 1,918,100 employed individuals, by 2010 that number had shrunk by 226,500 to 1,691,600.[155] By the end of 2015, the employment number in Phoenix had risen to 1.97 million, finally regaining its pre-
recession levels,[156] with job growth occurring across the board.[157]

In Phoenix, real estate developers face few constraints when planning and developing new projects. Accordingly, the city is prone to overbuilding during times of economic prosperity. This explains the city's higher-than-average vacancy rates.[159]

The military has a significant presence in Phoenix, with
Luke Air Force Base located in the western suburbs. The city was severely impacted by the effects of the
sub-prime mortgage crash. However, Phoenix has recovered 83% of the jobs lost
due to the recession.[159]

Culture

Performing arts

Orpheum Theater – Phoenix

The city has numerous performing arts venues, most of which are located in and around downtown Phoenix or Scottsdale. The Phoenix Symphony Hall is home to the
Phoenix Symphony Orchestra, the
Arizona Opera and
Ballet Arizona.[168] The Arizona Opera company also has intimate performances at its new Arizona Opera Center, which opened in March 2013.[169] Another venue is the
Orpheum Theatre, which is home to the
Phoenix Opera.[170] Ballet Arizona, in addition to the Symphony Hall, also has performances at the Orpheum Theatre as well at the Dorrance Theater. Concerts also regularly make stops in the area. The largest downtown performing art venue is the
Herberger Theater Center, which houses three performance spaces and is home to two resident companies, the
Arizona Theatre Company and the Centre Dance Ensemble. Three other groups also use the facility:
Valley Youth Theatre, iTheatre Collaborative[171] and Actors Theater.[172]

Designed by Alden B. Dow, a student of Frank Lloyd Wright, the Phoenix Art Museum was constructed in a single year, opening in November 1959.[177] The Phoenix Art Museum has the southwest's largest collection of visual art, containing more than 17,000 works of contemporary and modern art from around the world.[178][179][180] Interactive exhibits can be found in nearby
Peoria's Challenger Space Center, where individuals learn about space, renewable energies, and meet astronauts.[181]

The Heard Museum has over 130,000 square feet (12,000 m²) of gallery, classroom and performance space. Some of the signature exhibits include a full
Navajohogan, the Mareen Allen Nichols Collection containing 260 pieces of contemporary jewelry, the
Barry Goldwater Collection of 437 historic
Hopikachina dolls, and an exhibit on the 19th-century boarding school experiences of Native Americans. The Heard Museum attracts about 250,000 visitors a year.[182]

Fine arts

The downtown Phoenix art scene has developed in the past decade. The Artlink organization and the galleries downtown have successfully launched a
First Friday cross-Phoenix gallery opening, as well as hosting Art Detour which has become central to the city's cultural identity[183]. In April 2009, artist
Janet Echelman inaugurated her monumental sculpture, Her Secret Is Patience, a civic icon suspended above the new
Phoenix Civic Space Park, a two-city-block park in the middle of downtown. This netted sculpture makes the invisible patterns of desert wind visible to the human eye. During the day, the 100-foot (30 m)-tall sculpture hovers high above heads, treetops, and buildings, the sculpture creates what the artist calls "shadow drawings", which she says are inspired by Phoenix's cloud shadows. At night, the illumination changes color gradually through the seasons. Author Prof. Patrick Frank writes of the sculpture that "... most Arizonans look on the work with pride: this unique visual delight will forever mark the city of Phoenix just as the Eiffel Tower marks Paris."[184]

Architecture

Phoenix is the home of a unique architectural tradition and community.
Frank Lloyd Wright moved to Phoenix in 1937 and built his winter home,
Taliesin West, and the main campus for The Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture.[186] Over the years, Phoenix has attracted notable architects who have made it their home and have grown successful practices. These architectural studios embrace the desert climate, and are unconventional in their approach to the practice of design. They include the
Paolo Soleri (who created
Arcosanti),[187]Al Beadle,[188]Will Bruder,[189] Wendell Burnette,[190] and
Blank Studio architectural design studios.[191] Another major force in architectural landscape of the city was
Ralph Haver whose firm, Haver & Nunn, designed commercial, industrial and residential structures throughout the valley. Of particular note was his trademark, "Haver Home", which were affordable contemporary-style tract houses.[192]

Tourism

The tourist industry is the longest running of today's top industries in Phoenix. Starting with promotions back in the 1920s, the industry has grown into one of the top 10 in the city.[193] Due to its climate, Phoenix and its neighbors have consistently ranked among the nation's top destinations in the number of Five Diamond/Five Star resorts.[194] With more than 62,000 hotel rooms in over 500 hotels and 40 resorts, greater Phoenix sees over 16 million visitors each year, the majority of whom are leisure (as opposed to business) travelers. Sky Harbor Airport, which serves the Greater Phoenix area, serves about 40 million passengers a year, ranking it among the 10 busiest airports in the nation.[195]

Other attractions and annual events

Due to its natural environment and climate, Phoenix has a number of outdoor attractions and recreational activities. The
Phoenix Zoo is the largest privately owned, non-profit zoo in the United States. Since opening in 1962, the zoo has developed an international reputation for its efforts on animal conservation, including breeding and reintroducing endangered species back into the wild.[196] Right next to the zoo, the
Phoenix Botanical Gardens were opened in 1939, and are acclaimed worldwide for their exhibits and educational programs, featuring the largest collection of arid plants in the U.S.[197][198][199]South Mountain Park, the largest municipal park in the U.S., is also the highest desert mountain preserve in the world.[200]

There is long list of annual events in and near Phoenix which celebrate the heritage of the city, as well as its diversity. Some of those are the
Scottsdale Arabian Horse Show, the largest horse show in the world;
Matsuri, a celebration of Japanese culture; Pueblo Grande Indian Market, an event highlighting Native American arts and crafts; Grand Menorah Lighting, an annual December event celebrating Hanukah; ZooLights, an annual December evening event at the Phoenix Zoo, featuring millions of lights; the
Arizona State Fair, begun in 1884, an annual fair; Scottish Gathering & Highland Games, an annual event celebrating Scottish heritage;
Estrella War, an annual event celebrating medieval life;
Tohono O'odham Nation Rodeo & Fair, Oldest Indian rodeo in Arizona; and the Chinese Week & Culture & Cuisine Festival, an annual celebration of Chinese culture.[202][203][204][205]

Cuisine

Like many other western towns, the earliest restaurants in Phoenix were often steakhouses. Today, Phoenix is also renowned for its
Mexican food, thanks to both its large
Hispanic population and its proximity to Mexico. Some of Phoenix's restaurants have a long history. The Stockyards steakhouse dates to 1947, while Monti's La Casa Vieja (Spanish for "The Old House") was in operation as a restaurant since the 1890s, but closed its doors November 17, 2014.[206][207] Macayo's (a Mexican restaurant chain) was established in Phoenix in 1946, and other major Mexican restaurants include Garcia's (1956) and Manuel's (1964).[208] The recent population boom has brought people from all over the nation, and to a lesser extent from other countries, and has since influenced the local cuisine. Phoenix currently boasts cuisines from all over the world, such as
Korean,
barbecue,
Cajun/
Creole,
Greek,
Hawaiian,
Irish,
Japanese,
sushi,
Italian,
fusion,
Persian,
Indian (South Asian),
Spanish,
Thai,
Chinese,
southwestern,
Tex-Mex,
Vietnamese,
Brazilian, and
French.[209]

The first
McDonald's franchise was sold by the McDonald brothers to a Phoenix entrepreneur in 1952. Neil Fox paid $1,000 for the rights to open an establishment based on the McDonald brothers' restaurant.[210] The hamburger stand opened in 1953 on the southwest corner of
Central Avenue and
Indian School Road, on the growing north side of Phoenix, and was the first location to sport the now internationally known golden arches, which were initially twice the height of the building. Three other franchise locations opened that year, a full two years before
Ray Kroc purchased McDonald's and opened his first franchise in
Chicago, Illinois.[210]

Sports

Major league

Phoenix is home to several professional sports franchises, and is one of only 13 U.S. metropolitan areas to have representatives of all four
major professional sports leagues, although only one of these teams actually carry the city name and two of them play within the city limits.[211][212]

Talking Stick Resort Arena in downtown Phoenix

The Phoenix Suns were the first major sports team in Phoenix, being granted a National Basketball Association (NBA) franchise in 1968.[213] They had originally played at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum before moving to America West Arena (now
Talking Stick Resort Arena) in 1992.[214] The year following their move to the new arena, the Suns made it to the
NBA finals for the second time in franchise history, losing to
Michael Jordan's
Chicago Bulls, 4 games to 2.[215] The U.S. Airways Center hosted both the
1995 and the
2009 NBA All-Star Games.[216]

The
Arizona Diamondbacks of
Major League Baseball began play as an expansion team in 1998. The team has played all of its home games in the same downtown park, now known as
Chase Field.[221][222] It is the second highest stadium in the U.S. (after
Coors Field in Denver), and is known for its swimming pool beyond the outfield fence.[223] In 2001, the Diamondbacks defeated the New York Yankees 4 games to 3 in the World Series,[224] becoming the city's first professional sports franchise to win a national championship while located in Arizona. The win was also the fastest an expansion team had ever won the World Series, surpassing the old mark of the
Florida Marlins of 5 years, set in 1997.[225]

*Note: The Cardinals won two of their championships while in Chicago, pre-modern era.

Other sports

The Phoenix area hosts two annual college football bowl games: the
Fiesta Bowl, played at State Farm Stadium,[232] and the Motel 6
Cactus Bowl, which is held at Sun Devil Stadium (though Chase Field has substituted as host while ASU's football stadium undergoes renovations).[233]

The Greater Phoenix area is home to the
Cactus League, one of two spring training leagues for Major League Baseball. With the move by the
Colorado Rockies and the Diamondbacks to their new facility in the
Salt River Indian Community, the league is entirely based in the Greater Phoenix area. With the Cincinnati Reds' move to Goodyear, half of MLB's 30 teams are now included in the Cactus League.[235]

The
Phoenix International Raceway was built in 1964 with a one-mile (1.6 km) oval, with a one-of-a-kind design, as well as a 2.5-mile (4.0 km) road course.[236] It currently hosts several
NASCAR events per season, and the annual Fall NASCAR weekend, which includes events from four different NASCAR classes, is a huge event.[237][238] After thirty years of hosting various events, especially
NHRA drag racing events,
Firebird International Raceway (FIR) closed operations in 2013,[239] but the NHRA re-opened the venue to NHRA events in 2014 under the new name, "Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park".[240]

Parks and recreation

Midtown Phoenix is visible to the left in this view from the Phoenix Mountain Preserve, December 2010.

Camelback Mountain

Phoenix is home to a large number of parks and recreation areas. The city of Phoenix includes national parks, county (
Maricopa County) parks and city parks.
Tonto National Forest forms part of the northeast boundary of the city, while the county has the largest park system in the country.[246] The city park system was established to preserve the desert landscape in areas that would otherwise have succumbed to development and includes
South Mountain Park, the world's largest
municipal park with 16,500 acres (67 km2).[247] The city park system has 182 parks which contain over 41,900 acres (16,956 ha), making it the largest municipal park system in the country.[248] The park system has facilities for hiking, camping, swimming, horseback riding, cycling, and climbing.[249] Some of the other notable parks in the system are
Camelback Mountain,
Encanto Park (another large urban park) and
Sunnyslope Mountain, also known as "S" Mountain.[250]Papago Park in east Phoenix is home to both the Desert Botanical Garden and the Phoenix Zoo, in addition to several golf courses and the
Hole-in-the-Rock geological formation. The
Desert Botanical Garden, which opened in 1939, is one of the few public gardens in the country dedicated to desert plants, and displays desert plant life from all over the world. The Phoenix Zoo is the largest privately owned non-profit zoo in the United States and is internationally known for its programs devoted to saving endangered species.[251]

Government

In 1913, Phoenix adopted a new form of government, switching from the mayor-council system to the council-manager system, making it one of the first cities in the United States with this form of city government, where a
city manager supervises all city departments and executes the policies adopted by the Council.[252][253] Today, Phoenix represents the largest municipal government of this type in the country.[254]

The
city council consists of a
mayor and eight city council members. While the mayor is elected in a citywide election,
Phoenix City Council members are elected by votes only in the districts they represent, with both the Mayor and the Council members serving four-year terms.[255] The current mayor of Phoenix is
Thelda Williams, a Councilwoman from District One in office on an interim basis. Thelda Williams replaced
Greg Stanton, a
Democrat who resigned on May 29, 2018 to run for congress.[256] The mayor and city council members each have equal voting power in regards to setting city policy and passing rules and regulations.[255] The city's website was given a Sunny Award by
Sunshine Review for its
transparency efforts.[257]

State government facilities

As the capital of Arizona, Phoenix houses the
state legislature,[258] along with numerous state government agencies, many of which are located in the State Capitol district immediately west of downtown. The
Arizona Department of Juvenile Corrections operates the
Adobe Mountain and Black Canyon Schools in Phoenix.[259] Another major state government facility is the Arizona State Hospital, operated by the
Arizona Department of Health Services. This is a mental health center and is the only medical facility run by the state government.[260] The headquarters of numerous Arizona state government agencies are in Phoenix, with many located in the State Capitol district.

Federal government facilities

The
Sandra Day O'Connor U.S. Courthouse, the U.S. District Court of Arizona, is located on Washington Street downtown. It is named in honor of retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, who was raised in Arizona.[262]

The Federal Building is at the intersection of Van Buren Street and First Avenue downtown. It contains various federal field offices and the local division of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court.[263] This building formerly housed the U.S. District Court offices and courtrooms, but these were moved in 2001 to the new Sandra Day O'Connor U.S. Courthouse. Before the construction of this building in 1961, federal government offices were housed in the historic
U.S. Post Office on Central Avenue, completed in the 1930s.[264]

Crime

By the 1960s crime was becoming a significant problem in Phoenix, and by the 1970s crime continued to increase in the city at a faster rate than almost anywhere else in the country.[265] It was during this time frame when an incident occurred in Phoenix which would have national implications. On March 16, 1963,
Ernesto Miranda was arrested and charged with rape.[266] The subsequent Supreme Court ruling on June 13, 1966, Miranda v. Arizona, has led to practice in the United States of issuing a Miranda Warning to all suspected criminals.[267]

With Phoenix's rapid growth, one of the prime areas of criminal activity was land fraud. The practice became so widespread that newspapers would refer to Phoenix as the Tainted Desert.[268] These land frauds led to one of the more infamous murders in the history of the valley, when Arizona Republic writer
Don Bolles was murdered by a car bomb in 1976.[269][270] It was believed that his investigative reporting on organized crime and land fraud in Phoenix made him a target.[271][272][273]
Bolles was the only reporter from a major U.S. newspaper to be murdered on U.S. soil due to his coverage of a story.[271] Max Dunlap was convicted of first-degree murder in the case.[273]

Street gangs and the drug trade had turned into public safety issues by the 1980s, and the crime rate in Phoenix continued to grow.[274]
After seeing a peak in the early and mid-1990s, the city has seen a general decrease in crime rates. The Maricopa County Jail system is the fourth-largest in the country.[275] The violent crime rate peaked in 1993 at 1146 crimes per 100,000 people, while the property crime rate peaked a few years earlier, in 1989, at 9,966 crimes per 100,000.[276]

In the most recent numbers from the FBI (2012), those rates currently stand at 637 and 4091, respectively. Since their peak in 2003, murders have dropped from 241 to 114 in 2014.[276][277]

In 2001 and 2002 Phoenix ranked first in the nation in vehicle thefts, with over 22,000 and 25,000 cars stolen each year respectively.[278] It has declined every year since then, eventually falling to 7,200 in 2014, a drop of almost 70% during that timeframe.[277] The Phoenix MSA has dropped to 70th in the nation in terms of car thefts in 2012.[279]

As the first decade of the new century came to a close, Arizona had become the gateway to the U.S. for drug trafficking.[280] Another crime issue related to the drug trade are kidnappings. In the late 2000s, Phoenix earned the title "Kidnapping capital of the USA".[281] The majority of the kidnapped are believed to be victims of human smuggling, or related to illegal drug trade, while the kidnappers are believed to be part of
Mexican drug cartels.[280]

Education

Public education in the Phoenix area is provided by 33 school districts. There are 21 elementary school districts, which contain over 215 elementary schools, and they are paired with 4 high school districts, which have 31 high schools serving Phoenix. Three of the high school districts (
Glendale Union,
Tempe Union and
Tolleson Union) only partially serve Phoenix. With over 27,000 students, and spread over 220 square miles, The Phoenix Union High School District is one of the largest high school districts in the country, containing 16 schools and nearly 3,000 employees.[282] In addition, there are 4 unified districts, which cover grades K-12, which add an additional 58 elementary schools and 4 high schools to Phoenix's educational system. Of those four, only the
Paradise Valley district completely serves Phoenix.[283] Phoenix is also served by an expanding number of
charter schools, with well over 100 operating in the city.[284]

Media

The first newspaper in Phoenix was the weekly Salt River Valley Herald, established in 1878, which would change its name the following year to the Phoenix Herald. The paper would go through several additional name changes in its early years before finally settling on the Phoenix Herald, which still exists today in an on-line form.[295] Today, the city is served by one major daily newspaper: The Arizona Republic, which along with its online entity, azcentral.com, serves the greater metropolitan area.[296][297] The Jewish News of Greater Phoenix is an independent weekly newspaper established in 1948. In addition, the city is also served by numerous free neighborhood papers and alternative weeklies such as the Phoenix New Times' the East Valley Tribune, which primarily serves the cities of the East Valley; and Arizona State University's The State Press.[298]

The radio airwaves in Phoenix cater to a wide variety of musical and talk radio interests. Stations include classic rock formats of
KOOL-FM and
KSLX-FM, to pop stations like
KYOT and alternative stations like
KDKB-FM, to the talk radio of
KFYI-AM and
KKNT-AM, the pop and top 40 programming of
KZZP-FM and
KALV-FM, and the country sounds of
KMLE-FM. With its large Hispanic population there are numerous Spanish stations, such as
KHOT-FM and
KOMR-FM.[303]

Infrastructure

Transportation

Air

An aerial view of the
control tower at Phoenix Sky Harbor that began operations on January 17, 2007.

Phoenix is served by
Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (
IATA: PHX,
ICAO: KPHX), one of the ten busiest airports in the United States, serving over 110,000 people on over 1000 flights per day.[304] The airport is centrally located in the metro area near several major freeway interchanges east of downtown Phoenix. The airport serves more than 100 cities with non-stop flights.[305]

The
Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport (
IATA: AZA,
ICAO: KIWA) in neighboring Mesa also serves the area's commercial air traffic. It was converted from Williams Air Force Base, which closed in 1993. The airport has recently received substantial commercial service with
Allegiant Air opening a hub operation at the airport with non-stop service to over a dozen destinations.[308][309]

Amtrak Thruway buses connect Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport to
Flagstaff for connection with the Los Angeles-Chicago Southwest Chief.[313] Phoenix is also served by
Greyhound bus service, which stops at 24th Street near the airport.[314]

Valley Metro Rail station – 2009

Valley Metro provides public transportation throughout the metropolitan area, with its trains, buses, and a
ride-share program. 3.38% of workers commute by public transit. Valley Metro's 20-mile (32 km)
light rail project, called
Valley Metro Rail, through north-central Phoenix, downtown, and eastward through Tempe and Mesa, opened December 27, 2008. Future rail segments of more than 30 miles (48 km) are planned to open by 2030.[315]

Roads and freeways

Phoenix auto traffic depends on both freeways and surface streets. Freeways fall under the auspices of the
Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT). Phoenix ranks first in the nation in the quality of its urban freeways, and the state as a whole ranks first in the nation in the quality of bridges.[316] While being the fifth most populous city in the nation, Phoenix's freeways do not suffer from the same type of congestion seen in other large cities. In fact, in a recent study, there is not a single stretch of freeway in Phoenix ranked in the 100 worst freeways for either congestion or unreliability.[317]

The Stack (Interstates 10 and 17) interchange at night in 2012

Part of the reason for this is the extensive freeway system in the city, due to the majority of that system being funded by local, rather than federal funds, through a half-cent general sales tax measure approved by voters in 1985.[318] Another offshoot of this local funding is that Phoenix is the largest city in the United States to have two Interstate Highways but no three-digit interstates.[319]

As of 2005[update], the metropolitan area of Phoenix contains one of the nation's largest and fastest growing freeway systems, consisting of over 1,405 lane miles (2,261 lane km).[320] The freeway system is a mix of Interstate, U.S., and state highways which include
Interstate 10,
Interstate 17,
US 60,
Loop 101,
Loop 202,
SR 51,
SR 143, and
Loop 303. There are still major additions to routes 101, 202 and 303 underway, as well as several other smaller projects around the valley.[321] State Routes
87,
85, and
74 connect Phoenix with other areas of the Valley and Arizona.[322]

The street system in Phoenix (and some of its suburbs) is laid out in a grid system, with most roads oriented either north-south or east-west, and the zero point of the grid being the intersection of Central Avenue and Washington Street.[322] The one notable exception to this is the diagonal
Grand Avenue, which runs northwest-southeast. The original plan was for the east-west streets to be named after U.S. Presidents, with the north-south streets named after Native Americans; but the north-south streets were quickly changed to numbers, with numbered Avenues running to the west of Central, and numbered Streets to its east.[18] Major arterial streets are spaced one mile (1.6 km) apart, divided into smaller blocks approximately every 1⁄8 mile (200 m). For example, Scottsdale Road, being the 7200 block east, lies nine miles (14 km) to the east of Central Avenue (72 / 8).[322]

Alternate forms of transportation

The
Maricopa Association of Governments has a bicycle advisory committee working to improve conditions for bicycling on city streets and off-road paths.[323] Bicycling Magazine ranked Phoenix the 15th most bicycle friendly city of 50 cities in the United States with a population greater than 100,000.[324]

Utilities

Central Arizona Project (CAP) canal

Being located in the desert, Phoenix relies on a water supply delivered to the city via a system of canals which divert water from the region's rivers and lakes, with the largest portion of the city's water coming from the
Colorado River through the
Central Arizona Project's canal.[325] The city's electrical needs are served primarily by Arizona Public Service, although some customers receive their electricity from the
Salt River Project (SRP). The main sources of electrical generation are nuclear, and coal power plants. Arizona is home to the
Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station, the largest nuclear-generating facility in the United States. SRP is also the largest water provider in Phoenix.[326]

Health care

In 2011 (the last year for which information is available), Phoenix had a slightly younger population than the country as a whole. While the United States had 13.3% of its population over the age of 65, Phoenix's percentage stood significantly lower, at 8.1%. Phoenix's percentage of 18.8% in the next age group, 45–64 was also a great deal lower than the national average of 26.6%. This results in 73% of Phoenix's population being 44 or younger, as compared to the national percentage of 60.[327]

In 2010 (the last year for nationally reported figures), Phoenix was at or below national levels for most reportable diseases, with the exception of both hepatitis A and B, where they were slightly over the national average (0.8 and 1.8 to 0.5 and 1.1%, respectively).[328]

Maricopa Medical Center

In most major categories, Phoenix had a lower incidence of death than the rest of the nation. Only deaths due to Alzheimer's (29.7 to 27.2 deaths per 100,000) and pre-natal conditions (5.3 to 3.8 deaths per 100,000) were slightly above the national average. Deaths due to HIV and liver disease were exactly at the national average of 2.5 and 10.8 respectively. However, in several major categories, Phoenix had significantly lower indices of death: deaths by cancer stood at only 57% (106) of the national average of 184.6 deaths per 100,000; deaths due to heart disease, 56.1% of the national rate of 249.8 per 100,000.[329] Cancer and heart disease were the two top causes of death in the country.[330]

Low-weight births (7.5%) were below the national average of 8.1%, yet infant mortality (7.2%) was higher than the rest of the U.S. (6.1%). Births to teen mothers were significantly higher than the rest of the country, sitting at 12.2% as compared to 8.4% nationally.[327]

The Phoenix metropolitan area is serviced by 56 hospitals and medical centers.[331] The
Mayo Clinic, a not-for-profit medical practice and medical research group based in Rochester, Minnesota. Phoenix is one of two other locations with Mayo Clinics (the other being
Jacksonville, Florida).[332] It is the first and largest integrated not-for-profit medical group practice in the world; Mayo Clinic has been near or at the top of the U.S. News & World Report List of "Best Hospitals" for more than 20 years.[333]St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center is part of
Dignity Health (formerly Catholic Healthcare West), one of the largest healthcare systems in the western United States. St. Joseph's is a not-for-profit hospital with special advocacy for the poor and underserved. John C. Lincoln North Mountain Hospital is a general medical and surgical hospital, which performed nearly at the level of nationally ranked U.S. News Best Hospitals in 4 adult specialties.[334] The
Phoenix Children's Hospital is nationally ranked in 5 pediatric specialties according to U.S. News & World Report. It is a 425-bed children's teaching hospital.[335]Arizona Heart Institute, opened in 1971, is known internationally as one of the first freestanding outpatient clinics dedicated exclusively to cardiovascular health.[336]Banner Health is a non-profit health system in the United States, based in Phoenix. It operates 23 hospitals as well as specialized facilities. The health system is the 2nd largest employer in Arizona, behind
Walmart, employing more than 35,000.[337] Banner Health was created in 1999 through a merger of Lutheran Health Systems, based in North Dakota, and Samaritan Health System, based in Phoenix. Of the top 10 rated hospitals in the city (top 12 in the state), 4 are Banner hospitals.[338] Barrow Neurological Institute (BNI) at
St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center is the world's largest dedicated neurosurgical center and a leader in neurosurgical training, research, and patient care.[339] More operative neurosurgical procedures take place at BNI than at any other institution in the United States.[339]

Notable people

Sister cities

Signpost showing Phoenix's sister cities

With the creation of the Phoenix Sister Cities (PSC) organization in 1972, Phoenix became a member of the international Sister City movement. It would take the organization several years to become official, not filing for Articles of Incorporation until 1975, and not entering into their first Sister City agreement until 1976, with
Hermosillo, Mexico.[340] The organization's mission statement states their purpose is to "create people-to-people relationships between the residents of Phoenix and its sister cities through commercial, educational, cultural and artistic exchange programs and events that create and sustain global, long-term, international partnerships and business opportunities for the citizens of Phoenix."[341] Phoenix has ten
sister cities, as designated by the Phoenix Sister Cities Commission and Sister Cities International, shown in the table below.[342] Phoenix and Prague have shared a Capital Cities relationship since May 1991, which was expanded to Sister City Status in 2013.[343]

Notes

^Since Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX) opened, the earliest and latest freezes recorded there are November 3, 1946, and April 4, 1945, respectively. However, as the
official Phoenix climatology station was changed to PHX in October 1953, those records are not considered official.

^Mean monthly maxima and minima (i.e. the highest and lowest temperature readings during an entire month or year) calculated based on data at said location from 1981 to 2010.

^Official records for Phoenix kept at downtown August 1895 to September 1953, and at Sky Harbor Int'l since October 1953. For more information see
ThreadEx.

Luckingham, Bradford (1989). Phoenix: The History of a Southwestern Metropolis. University of Arizona Press.
ISBN978-0-8165-1116-7.

Luckingham, Bradford (1995). Phoenix: The History of a Southwestern Metropolis. University of Arizona Press.
ISBN978-0-8165-1116-7.

Montero, Laurene; Stubing, Michael; Turner, Korri (June 2008). General Historic Properties Treatment Plan for Archeological Projects Within the Boundaries of the City of Phoenix, Arizona. City of Phoenix, Street Transportation Department.

Shermer, Elizabeth (2013). Sunbelt capitalism Phoenix and the transformation of American politics. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
ISBN978-0-8122-4470-0.